ADHD Meal Planning: Practical Solutions 2024

No 2 brains are alike, but some are spicier than others. For those of you blessed with an ADHD brain (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), tasks that involve advanced planning – such as making a weekly menu and organizing the shopping and the prep – can be downright overwhelming.

On the upside, ADHD is believed to boost creativity, which you can harness to come up with interesting meals. However, your creativity won’t help when the shelves are empty (because nobody did the shopping) and the kids are demanding to be fed¹.

Don’t lose hope. This doesn’t mean you’re doomed to a lifetime of negative eating patterns. Together with our experienced nutritionist, I’ve worked hard to create an ADHD meal planning guide that will equip you with effective tools and strategies to overcome these challenges.

Read until the end and choose the techniques and strategies that best suit your current needs.

ADHD Meal Planning: Why It’s Important 

There’s no denying that everyone benefits from a well-balanced diet and good food habits. When you’re eating at the right time of the day and consuming the right amounts of nutrients from a variety of food groups, your health, energy, and well-being thrive.

However, things are not that easy for people with ADHD. Because the part of the brain housing decisions and planning is a bit different than neurotypical brains, ADHDers struggle with tasks perceived as simple by so many of us².

Here are a few examples:

• Maintaining a consistent eating schedule: ADHDers often struggle with time management, making it challenging to eat meals at regular intervals. Also, it’s not uncommon to forget to eat until hunger hits hard. 

• Managing portion sizes: Impulsivity and lack of attention can make portion management difficult, often leading to over- or under-eating³.

• Remembering the ingredients in the fridge: The “out of sight, out of mind” expression is an ADHD person’s reality, so it’s easy to forget you have food slowly decomposing in the fridge.

• Overindulging in highly stimulating foods: High-fat, high-sugar, or salty snacks are often the easier option when you’re starving and your energy levels are low.

Additionally, ADHD medication can lead to a suppressed appetite and can aggravate one’s tendency to consume too much of certain foods and completely ignore others. This type of behavior means you’ll be missing out on a range of essential nutrients, which further impacts your energy levels and general well-being.

This is why many health specialists think finding a way to establish healthy eating habits is even more important for people with ADHD⁴. Studies show that healthy eating patterns are often associated with reduced ADHD symptoms⁵. This could be due to improved nutrition and getting some type of structure in your life.

ADHD-Friendly Meal Planning Tips

Meal planning requires a lot of structured thinking – something that is difficult for ADHD brains. But the best part of learning how to meal plan is that you also learn how to do things your way.

At the end of the day, meal planning is a tool you can use to make your life better. So, all you need is a few tips, tricks, and strategies to make it easier for your brain to think about food, eating, and cooking in general. 

And this is what we’ll discuss moving forward.

Build Your Recipe Database

Every good meal planning system starts with a recipe database. This is a fancy way of saying that you should gather all the recipes you and your family like in one place, where they’re easy to find.

For the storage medium, you can use anything that’s convenient and easily accessible, from an app or a Google Doc file to a piece of paper stuck to your fridge. 

If you don’t like working with specific recipes, try adding meal themes and cuisines to the database. For instance, if the kids like pizza and pasta, you can put them under Italian food. If you need a quick breakfast in the morning, add sandwiches and/or smoothies to your database.

This will give you some guidance for the next step, grocery shopping. Overall, it’s a good idea to focus on simple recipes with minimal ingredients, like the ones offered by the meal kit delivery service Dinnerly.

If you have difficulties remembering it’s time to eat, build your database around foods rich in protein and fiber (for extra nutrients and longer-lasting satiety). Here are some easy ideas:

• Fortified bread

• Whole grain pasta

• Granola with extra fiber and protein

• Greek or Icelandic yogurt (higher in protein)

• Beans and legumes

Additionally, don’t forget to include healthy snacks in your ADHD meal planning strategy. Opt for the most convenient version, such as:

• Pre-cut fruits and vegetables

• Nuts and seeds

• Cheese sticks or slices

• Store-bought hummus with whole-grain crackers

• Dried fruit

• Trail mix

Lastly, don’t go cold turkey on foods you like but are considered unhealthy, such as pizza, white bread, fast food, cheese, and so on. If you completely remove them, you might trigger a binge eating session, which has the potential to put you in a bad mental place. It’s best to indulge in some cravings from time to time (this is also valid for neurotypicals).

Once you have a rough idea of what you and your family enjoy eating, it’s time to put together your meal plan and shopping list.

Shopping Hacks for ADHD Meal Planning

Once you have an idea of what you’d like to eat during the week, it’s time to tackle another challenging task: shopping for ingredients.

First, you should put together a shopping list. This means that you first have to inventory your pantry and fridge to avoid buying more of the things you already have that are nearing their expiration date.

Make Inventory a Breeze

The inventory part can be a lot of work, but you can divide this task into 2: inspection and report. 

For the inspection phase, start by installing a voice recording app on your phone (or simply film yourself). When you open the door of your fridge or pantry to check the content, hit record and say out loud the items that are missing or need a resupply.

For the report phase, have your recording and something to write on (it can be paper, it can be a phone, it doesn’t matter). Listen to your recording and note down the items you need to buy. Add these items to your shopping list.

To make things easier, you can do these 2 steps separately whenever you have the time and disposition. 

Remove All the Hassle

If you find keeping track of your pantry inventory, making shopping lists, and going to the store too cumbersome, consider a meal kit delivery service. Otherwise, there’s also the option of a grocery delivery service, which also saves time and stress.

Other Useful Hacks

• Organize your shopping list using categories that fit your store’s layout (Main aisle, Bakery, Butchery, and so on). This way, you can map out your shopping trip so you won’t wander into the sweets aisle by mistake.

• If you’re using themes or cuisines to shape your meal plan, shop for pantry and fridge staples that fit the general theme. For instance, if you have sandwiches as a breakfast option, your shopping list should include a variety of sandwich elements, such as deli meats, veggies, sliced cheese, and so on.

• If you want to do your own shopping, go when you have the most energy or when the store is not too crowded (preferably both). Going with a shopping list is a great way to avoid impulse buys.

Use Fun Tools

The idea behind this suggestion is to make meal planning as visible as possible. For instance, you can use a basic graphic design software tool (whichever you find easy to use) to create various prints that you can spread around the house.

Here are a few ideas:

• Print out your meal plan for the week in a cute format that uses lively colors and place it on the fridge (or in another visible location in the kitchen). 

• Print out a list of the most important items that you must always have in the pantry and stick it to the pantry door.

• Create recipe cards (printed or digital) with ingredients and cooking steps for your family’s top 10 recipes. You can use the recipe cards from some of the most popular meal delivery services as inspiration.

You can also use apps to store recipes, create grocery lists, and discuss meal ideas. Here are a few ideas to consider:

• Mealime: The app offers personalized meal plans that cater to various dietary preferences and restrictions. It also offers easy-to-follow recipes and generates a grocery list based on your selections.

• Paprika Recipe Manager: It allows users to organize their recipes, plan meals, and create shopping lists all in one place. It also includes a feature to save recipes from the web and can sync across multiple devices.

• Yummly: The app provides personalized meal recommendations based on your taste preferences and dietary needs. It features a vast library of recipes, easy meal planning tools, and integrates with grocery delivery services.

Make Meal Prep Easy

We’re finally at a stage where your ADHD meal planning efforts begin to take shape. You have the recipes, you know when you’ll cook them, and now you have the ingredients. Now, it’s time to do some meal prepping to ease the burden on yourself during the week. 

However, you must take things easy and enlist as much help as possible. That’s because the ADHD brain tends to freak out when it comes to juggling multiple tasks at once, such as prepping veggies, boiling rice, and cooking protein. 

One way to go about this is to enlist the help of other family members, but if they’re not available, there are other things you can do.

Tricks for the ADHD Brain

There are several useful strategies you can rely on to make meal planning work for you. After consulting your recipe database, you can make things even easier by structuring your recipes around what matters to you. 

For instance, if you want to increase your protein and fiber intake, plan the protein and fibers you want to consume for each meal instead of adding an entire dish. This way, when it comes time for cooking, you can use your improvisation powers by adding whatever veggies, healthy fats, or carbs are around.

Also, if you want to bulk-prep ingredients (by cooking chicken breast, salmon, beef, beans, quinoa, rice, salad ingredients, and so on), it’s best to do so at the start of the week, when your energy levels are high. Once cooked, stash the ingredients in the fridge and just combine as you see fit.

Lastly, freeze any leftovers or food surplus. Even though you won’t eat them in the following week or so, they’ll be there when your energy is down and you don’t feel like cooking.

Be Honest with Yourself

Your relationship with food is important for your physical and mental well-being, so do yourself a favor and be honest with what you want out of your ADHD meal planning. Remember, it’s a tool that exists to make your life easier.

If you don’t like to cook that much, that’s perfectly OK. You can still use a meal planner even if you put sandwiches and smoothies as recipes for breakfast or salad and rice bowls for lunches and dinners.

As long as you and your family work on building healthier eating habits, it doesn’t matter if it’s aesthetic or well-organized. Also, don’t be too hard on yourself if you have days when you’d rather order pizza or takeout than eat what’s on the meal plan. It happens. Try to limit these occurrences as much as possible, and you should be fine.

FAQ

What are the main challenges of meal planning with ADHD?

Meal planning with ADHD involves multiple executive functions, such as planning, organizing, and time management, which can be particularly challenging for those with ADHD. This often results in difficulties with starting the process, managing distractions, and maintaining a routine.

How can someone with ADHD make meal planning easier?

Simplify the process by using tools like meal planning apps, creating a master list of easy recipes, and batching cooking tasks. Breaking down tasks into smaller steps, using visual aids, and setting reminders can also help manage the process more effectively.

What types of foods are recommended for individuals with ADHD?

A balanced diet rich in proteins, complex carbohydrates, and essential nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, and zinc is recommended. Foods like blueberries, rolled oats, eggs, and leafy greens can support brain health and improve focus.

What are some strategies for grocery shopping with ADHD?

Using a detailed grocery list, organizing items by store sections, and considering online grocery shopping to avoid impulsive purchases can make grocery shopping more manageable. Additionally, opting for pre-cut or frozen ingredients can save time and reduce stress.

How can meal prep be adapted for ADHD?

Meal prep can be made easier by doubling recipes to create leftovers, using slow cookers or instant pots, and storing meals in clear containers to improve visibility and reduce the "out of sight, out of mind" issue.

References

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33035524/

2. https://magazine.medlineplus.gov/article/understanding-adhd-what-you-need-to-know

3. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03325337

4. https://chadd.org/about-adhd/nutrition-and-adhd/

5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10444659/